by Sofia Sawyer
She could do things her way if she were brave enough to dream it.
As they sat on those boards, the bright sun reflecting off the ocean water, making her eyes sparkle, Jackson thought maybe for the first time in a long time they were really seeing each other.
That finally, she understood.
“Have you told your parents all of this yet?” she’d asked. “It could make a huge difference in how they feel about you dropping out of school all those years ago.” She’d paused as she looked out to the horizon. “It did for me.”
The statement was so quiet, he had thought he’d imagined it.
“I haven’t. No. My father…he and I haven’t had a normal conversation in years without it blowing up within five minutes.”
She’d turned to him, her gaze holding his. “Maybe it’s time you weather the storm. Rather than packing your bags and leaving after the inevitable blow-up, dig your heels in and make him listen. You seem to be comfortable putting yourself out there for everyone to see except with him.”
Elena was right. In his gut, he knew it.
Jackson’s father may never have approved of his choice to go out and start his own business, and although his mother never outright showed her disappointment the way his father had, she had been compliant. More willing to stand quietly by her husband’s side than encourage her children.
But Elena made him believe he was doing something worthwhile. The pride on her face was a high he’d always want to chase. Sure, he’d gotten great affirmation from those he’s worked with over the years, including some press releases and news that came out about his company’s mission, and he’d been lucky enough to travel to remote places around the world and see how he made an impact. Yet, somehow, none of that came close to Elena’s approval.
Maybe it was because she knew him as the wild kid who was always stirring up trouble. Or because she was someone he’d known most of his life. Either way, it meant more to him than he would have expected, only pulling him further into Elena’s orbit.
How long could he keep pretending to be her perfect boyfriend before he actually slipped and asked her to give it a real shot? As much as the idea excited him, it wasn’t fair. Sure, he knew he would have to set down some sort of roots to help him grow his business, but he hadn’t planned on it being in Charleston.
He didn’t want to start something he couldn’t finish. Not with her. He couldn’t bear the thought of breaking her heart if his work made him leave again. She deserved so much more than he could ever give.
But you can give her what she deserves if you really wanted to. You don’t have to leave.
“That was amazing,” Elena said on a sigh as she collapsed onto the sand next to him, pulling Jackson from his battling thoughts. Still soaked from the water, Elena lifted the rash guard over her head, revealing that perfect skin that drove him wild. He snuck a glance, careful not to outright gawk at her again.
“Never thought I’d go surfing at my age, but I'm glad I did,” Natalie commented as she walked up to join them.
Hari rolled his eyes and smiled as he trailed behind. “Forty-eight isn’t old.” Natalie’s eyes shot daggers at him as if he shared a horrible secret. “We still have a lot of living to do.”
Stephanie approached with her clipboard in hand. “Great work, everyone,” she commended. “I’m sure you worked up an appetite with all that surfing.”
Ana held her stomach and groaned. “Starved. I thought barre was hard. This killed.”
“In a few minutes, you’ll jump on one of these boats.” She nodded to a pair of boats resting in the wake.
“Where to?” Jackson asked.
“We have access to a private island off the coast where we’ll have a nice spread laid out. A picnic on the beach, if you will.”
“That sounds amazingggg,” Maritza drew out. “Wine?”
Stephanie laughed. “Of course.”
“Sign me up!”
“If you’ll follow me, we’ll have you on this boat with a driver. The camera crew and I will follow behind. We gotta get you set up with some mics before you board so we can capture the audio, though.”
The group stood with pained effort, worse for the wear and likely to be sore after using muscles they hadn’t used in some time…or ever. Moments later, they were situated in the small boat and cruising along the ocean, the wind blowing their wet hair wildly around.
“Oh my goodness! Is that a dolphin?” Maritza yelled over the motor and wind.
Elena carefully moved to where Maritza was standing and tapped her shoulder. “Look.” Elena pointed to where a pod of dolphins jumped out of the water beside the boat. “We have a ton of them here,” she said as she watched with fascination.
Maritza leaned over further, outstretching her hand. Her fingertips skimmed the top of the water as they cruised along. “They’re so close, you can almost touch them.”
Elena shifted to get a closer look, too, just as they hit a choppy wave. Maritza lost her balance, instinctively reaching out and grabbing Elena’s arm, sending them both over the edge and into the water.
Natalie gasped, and Ana shrieked. Without a second thought, Jackson ripped off his shirt and dove into the water, panicked that Elena was hurt. She was a strong swimmer, but he had no idea if the fall had taken her by surprise.
He surfaced, seeing her hand sticking out from the water. He dug his hands into the water and swam to her, pulling her above surface. She sputtered and gasped for air.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded. “Maritza?” she coughed out.
Following Jackson’s lead—albeit a little delayed, and well after the driver had slowed down to a stop—Max leaned over the edge and pulled a still stunned Maritza from the ocean. Max waved to them, signaling that she was fine.
Wrapping Elena’s arms around his neck, Jackson instructed her to hold on while he swam back to the boat. Natalie and Hari pulled her up by her arms and helped her in.
With a ragged breath, Elena sat on a bench to cough out the rest of the water trapped in her lungs. “Thank you,” she finally said after sucking in a big breath of air.
Jackson sat behind her and pulled her into his lap, his heart still beating out of control, a side effect of seeing her go overboard. He rubbed circles on her back to help ease out whatever water was left in her lungs. She coughed again and sputtered. “Not for a second would I hesitate to go after you.”
“Aw. That’s too sweet,” Natalie commented as she nudged Hari in the ribs with her elbow. “Isn’t that so sweet?”
“Very,” he agreed while rubbing his ribs and wincing.
“If my man jumped in after me all heroic like that, I would be all over him,” Ana fanned herself.
“So that’s all it takes, huh?” Zach wagged his eyebrows and snaked his arms around her waist, nuzzling his face into her neck.
Ana giggled and leaned into it. “But seriously, I would at least give him a kiss. That was so romantic.”
The other women nodded, and soon came the chants to kiss. Elena looked at him with wide eyes mixed with uncertainty and curiosity. Jackson—selfish as it might be—wanted to take the opportunity to finish what they had started before the rest of the group came. He shot her a look that said, “Is this okay?”
She quickly nodded, a touch of shyness, and—dare he hope a bit of anticipation maybe—creeping on her face. That was all he needed.
Cupping her cheek with one hand, he pulled her tighter against his body, his face dipping down to hers. Jackson paused. One last look into those beautiful brown eyes—another chance for her to change her mind.
Please don’t change your mind.
His pulse kicked up as her eyes began to close, and she tilted her chin to him. She wanted this. She wanted him.
He had imagined kissing her these last few days, always picturing it as a slow, tentative exploration of each other. But now that the chance was here, the idea of going slow was the last thing on his mind. He needed her. Needed
to feel her. Needed her lips on his to assess how she felt for him, that he wasn’t alone in this.
His fingers dug lightly into the nape of her neck as he pulled her in and crushed his lips against hers, not at all concerned with being polite as many people would be with their first kiss. He was desperate for her, and by the way her full lips were lapping up his, he would say she felt the same.
He hoped she felt the same.
Elena’s body responded, only making his need for her more intense. His body was on fire, and she was fueling the flame. She dug a hand into his hair and pressed against him—every curve of her body molded to his—kissing him with raw heat and passion. She opened her mouth, allowing him to explore, to taste the mixture of her sweetness melded with the salt of the ocean. Soft. Wet. Warm. Everything.
It was everything.
He couldn’t get enough. And at that moment, he knew kissing Elena would never be enough. He’d always want more.
He’d always want her.
Some wolfish howls came from the other side of the boat, pulling him from the crazy spell he had been under. Elena jerked away, her face bright red, her breath coming harder than when she’d been pulled from the ocean.
Jackson was tempted to pull her back in to continue the kiss he never wanted to end.
“Wow. That was hot. You have some advice in that book of yours that talks about how to get that level of passion in our relationships?” Natalie teased.
Elena let out an awkward laugh, a look of lust still crossing her features. “I guess you’ll have to read and find out.” She shrugged a shoulder.
“Did you practice that line? That was perfect,” Stephanie commended as their boat cruised up along theirs. “Totally making the cut. Along with that kiss. My God, Celeste is going to lose it.”
Elena gripped his hand, her eyes going wide with worry, likely because she realized their somewhat private moment wasn’t limited to the strangers on the boat. Once the show aired, the whole country was going to see it.
Jackson took her hand and placed a soft kiss on her palm. “We’ll be okay, Elena,” he whispered in her ear. And with that, he felt her body instantly relax on his lap, but despite her relaxed posture, he felt the erratic beating of her heart matching his own.
Through the years, he had fleeting thoughts about what it would be like to kiss Elena. He blamed his raging hormones as a teen for those thoughts, but puberty couldn’t be the scapegoat this time. Everything in his being ached to kiss her again. It was unlike anything he could have ever imagined and unlike anything he’d ever experienced. He knew the kiss was caused by a bit of peer pressure, but she couldn’t have faked that, right?
He didn’t think he could handle knowing she faked it. Not when kissing her gave him a sense of clarity that calmed him in ways he hadn’t felt before. Even with the frantic racing of his heart and the way his insides heated up with every movement of her lips on his, the world became silent. It fell away.
For once, he didn’t have that unrelenting urge to move. He didn’t need to pack his bags and go, always looking to discover something new. He thought it was simply a case of wanderlust and curiosity that had him traveling the world, but now he knew it was something else.
All these years, he had been on a quest to find what was missing in his life.
Although the things he experienced on his travels were ones he was grateful for, he hadn’t realized how unfulfilled he was as he moved on from place to place. The unsettled feeling was always lingering there, deep down, but he never knew what it was.
Now, with Elena wrapped in his arms, her face pressed in the crook of his neck, he knew. Suddenly, every fiber of his being was telling him he needed to stay. That what he’d been looking for was right there.
If he did stay, would she feel the same? Could all of this be real?
15
Elena
Despite the little overboard accident, the private beach lunch was pleasant. Everyone had a great time, and Elena had tried to enjoy herself as much as she could muster. But Elena had felt like she couldn’t breathe the rest of the day, and not because of the ocean water sitting in her lungs. She couldn’t believe how Jackson dove into the water to rescue her, but it wasn’t the heroics that had her heart beating out of her chest. It was the gentle way he held her after and the not-so-gentle kiss that had her insides on fire.
Never in her life had she been kissed like that.
All that heat and passion and...she let out a big sigh. She was already entering the danger zone with Jackson, her feelings getting muddled and confused as she tried to figure out what between them was real and what was for show.
She didn’t think she could handle knowing that the kiss—the best kiss in her whole freaking life—was an act. Her insides twisted as she thought of never having that kiss again. When the show wrapped up at the end of the week, would he disappear from her life as quickly as he came barreling in it again?
Going back to how it was before they agreed to this whole charade was a distant, empty memory. One she didn’t want to revisit.
Her insides twisted again as she thought about what that meant. Leave it to her to have feelings for a guy who was completely off-limits, not just as her best friend’s brother and her fake boyfriend, but because he’ll likely be on some grand adventure across the world before she could even make sense of the emotions exploding throughout her body.
Maybe they could be friends. They could stay in touch. Texts, emails, and phone calls could be her lifeline.
But would that be enough? Despite him coming home here and there these last few years, their paths rarely crossed. She couldn’t stomach knowing it might be years before she saw him again.
His face with the smile and laugh that centered her. And those blue eyes that pulled her in like a rip current, one she would happily float away in even if it meant her demise.
This is bad. So very bad.
Elena waved goodbye to the rest of the group as they jumped into a rideshare, excitedly chatting about where they’d explore downtown after they got cleaned up.
“Hey,” Jackson said, startling her from her internal dilemma.
Elena turned to him, her eyes instantly zeroing in on his full lips that hitched into his signature panty-dropping grin.
She forced herself to look at his eyes, those eyes that reminded her of clear skies on a comfortable spring afternoon. She stared at them, getting lost in their rip current effect.
My God, I’m never going to survive.
“Elena?” Jackson asked, his eyebrows knitted in confusion.
Busted.
She shook her head and casually swiped at her mouth in case she had drooled over the sight of him. “Sorry. What’s up?”
“Now that we’re wrapped for the day, I asked if you wanted to get dinner with me?”
Was it just her, or did he seem nervous when he asked her? Almost shy.
“Sure, what did you have in mind?”
“My friends live on Folly Beach. Not too far from here. They’re having a BBQ.”
A rush of nerves and excitement coursed through her. Their fake date was suddenly starting to feel real. “Sounds good. I’ll meet you back down here in a couple of hours.”
He laughed and ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back in a way that looked like he’d participated in an all-nighter sexcapade. The muscles of his chest and bicep flexed with the movement, and she did everything she could to remember to breathe. “Elena, come as you are.” The comment was casual, but his voice made her wonder if there was some deeper meaning behind it.
“I’m all gross from the sand and saltwater.” It had been a long day at the beach, and she could use a shower to wash away the sticky, gritty feeling on her skin. God only knows what her hair was doing. She was almost scared to think of it.
Yet, Jackson wasn’t looking at her wild hair in fear. If anything, he was looking at her like she was some sort of sea siren, ready to lure him into the depths of the ocean, and he�
��d gladly take that risk.
He reached out, an amused smirk on his face, and took an unruly wave of her hair between his fingers, tucking it behind her ear. “Elena, we’re at the beach. The people we’re hanging out with were likely surfing all day and most definitely didn’t shower before they cracked open a beer and hung out. Don’t worry about being perfect. Go with the flow.”
She hesitated.
“Trust me?”
She exhaled, slightly uncomfortable at the thought of meeting his friends looking like a mess and likely smelling worse, but the hopeful gleam in his eyes made her reconsider. “Okay.”
He grinned and held out his hand. She took it, enjoying the warmth of his large hand as it engulfed hers, the simple feel of it making her already frazzled hormones go insane. They walked along the main road and continued down a quiet side street.
His hand still firmly holding hers, as if they’d done this a million times.
“You know, the cameras have packed it in for the day.”
“I know,” he said with certainty, still clutching her hand.
Her heart raced. “So, you don’t need to do all this,” she commented as she squeezed his hand.
Jackson turned, piercing her with his gaze. “I know, Elena.”
“Oh, okay,” she said dumbly while trying to put one foot in front of the other. Her legs felt like jelly, the rush of emotions overwhelming her.
What does this mean?
Elena followed him to the bungalow a couple blocks from the beach. In the dusky light, she could see the house was small but well cared for. Several surfboards sat on the porch next to a swinging hammock. Jackson pushed through the front door without knocking, “Brandon, Shua, we’re here.”
“Hey, dude,” a tall guy with shaggy red hair said. He pulled Jackson into one of those high-five-handshake-hug things guys do.